Pregnancy & Smoking

You're pregnant.

But if you smoke, it means that your baby shares chemicals from the smoke you breathe. It also means that the dangerous chemicals in other people's smoke - secondhand smoke - can affect your baby.

Heart

• When you smoke you inhale over 4,000 chemicals from the cigarette. One of these is a dangerous chemical called carbon monoxide, which gets into your bloodstream.
• This restricts the oxygen that's essential for your baby's healthy growth and development, and because cigarettes restrict their oxygen supply, their tiny heart has to beat harder every time you smoke.

During birth

• Smoking can cause a greater risk of miscarriage and stillbirth.
• Your baby is more likely to be born prematurely and with a low birth weight.

Your child is three times as likely to become a smoker as they get older.

The ears

• Your child is more at risk of getting infections such as inflammation of the middle ear in childhood.

The lungs

• Smoking during pregnancy can increase the risk of asthma and other chest infections in young children.
• Your child is more likely to become a smoker as they get older.